Tamper-evident closures are known in the art. These closures generally include a cap proper, which is removably associated with the rest of the closure, and a tamper-evident element, providing first-opening evidence.
In most closures, at least one element remains attached to the container after first opening. This element is obviously conceived and designed to remain attached to the container throughout the useful live of the container.
As concerns over the environmental impact of products increase, the need to reduce the environmental impact of safety closures has been increasingly felt.
A reduced environmental impact of an item is known to be obtained by making the item out of parts that are made of the same material or are easily separable.
In the particular case of safety closures, which typically comprise an element that is designed to remain on the container throughout the useful life of the latter, the container is not easily separated from the element attached thereto using standard separation techniques as used in the recycling industry.
Therefore, the element becomes a pollutant in the container recycling process.
WO 2008/95863, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,156,490, 3,001,657, GB 407386, GB 374394, GB 362101, FR 1108212 and FR 723220 disclose containers having a neck with lower threads and upper threads, and having a closure applied thereto, with a lower portion engaged with the lower threads and an upper portion engaged with the upper threads. Upon first opening, the lower threads retain the lower portion on the container. Nevertheless, the container does not allow the lower portion to be removed after first opening.
The need is also felt to provide a container that allows easy separation of the closure, for improved recycling of the container, with no element of the closure becoming a pollutant in the container recycling process.
WO 2012/150569 discloses a container assembly with a tamper-evident closure in which the container neck has threads and an engagement surface extending over the threads along at last one longitudinal section of the neck. While this arrangement allows removal of the closure from the neck, it is still involves some complexity in the manufacture of the neck.
GB 2261656, AT 413816, GB 430,600, GB 459,993, WO 98/09879 disclose technical arrangements aimed at preventing accidental opening of the closure and/or at assisting opening of the container when no threads are provided,
Therefore, in light of the above discussed prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide an assembly that allows complete and easy separation of a threaded tamper-evident closure from a container having a threaded neck.